If you’ve just started following us recently, this is leg 2 of our 56-day, multiple-cruise, 2022 travel adventure. In case you missed our posts covering our Iceland pre-cruise excursion, you can view them here, here, and here.
Once again we are back cruising aboard a big ship, the Viking Star, on the Homelands Cruise that will take us to 5 countries – Norway, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Sweden:
These cruises were planned right after our World Wonders cruise was aborted halfway through in March of 2020 – we all know what happened then. So we waited two years to begin traveling again as Covid created havoc in everyone’s lives.
We thought everything was a go as planned, but Mr. Putin entered the picture and our Russian River cruise was cancelled. Once again we adjusted our itinerary, and with the help of our amazing travel agent we rearranged things to create 4 back-to-back ocean and river cruises. They consist of the Homelands Ocean Cruise (July 26- Aug 9), France’s Finest River Cruise (2 separate short cruises Aug 9-23), and the Pharaohs and Pyramids River Cruise (Aug 25-Sept 12). These are all Viking cruises.
As of this writing we’re already in France and have realized that keeping up to date with timely blog posts simply isn’t possible. With excursions happening every day, hundreds of pictures to manage and unusable internet much of the time – forget about it! So we’re departing from our usual format and going with fewer details and more pictures to try to keep a little more up to date.
Our arrival in Bergen was seamless, with Viking providing service from our airport arrival to the ship for embarkation. Since all Viking ocean ships are basically identical, embarking on the Viking Star was like coming home. We knew where everything was and how the cruise would operate. We even had Captain Lars running the ship – the same man who piloted the Viking Sun on our world cruise! We also re-connected with some of the crew who worked on that cruise – it was great getting back together with some of the nicest and most professional folks in the business.
We took the included Panoramic Bus Tour of Bergen the next day:
Bryggen is a historic harbor district in Bergen, one of North Europe’s oldest port cities on the west coast of Norway, which was established as a centre for trade by the 12th century.
Bryggen wharf, a row of timbered Hanseatic warehouses along a quaint quay, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
These are a series of Hanseatic heritage commercial buildings lined up along the eastern side of the Vågen harbor
Narrow wooden walkways are flanked by parallel rows of small, vibrantly painted buildings overlooking the picturesque Vågen Harbor.
After our tour, we made a quick stop at the Fish Market to get some smoked trout, which had been highly recommended by our taxi driver in Iceland:
After a nice quick visit in the city we headed back to the ship and did laundry for the first time this cruise. Then something hit the planner of the family (Mona Liza) while reviewing the pictures. We had missed our afternoon excursion – a ride on the funicular, and a hike to Mt. Floien, one of the city mountains surrounding Bergen. I guess our priority at the moment was laundering the dirty clothes from Iceland. Oh well, stuff happens!
Next stop: Eidfjord, Norway
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Lowes Travels 
Beautiful and fascinating!
Thanks for sharing.
I’ve always found it impossible to keep up with our blog for exactly the same reasons…we’re busy every day with adventures, we have hundreds of photos to sort through, and our internet connection is often terrible. You have the right idea, to keep it simple. Your photos are gorgeous and you tell just enough of the story to make it interesting. The most important thing is to enjoy your journey! Which you obviously are. 🙂
I love following your journey. Pictures are great. Stay safe
Thanks for sharing. Your posts are inspiring
this looks like a great trip, I’m glad your traveling again.
I can understand the call of the laundry, but sorry you missed the funicular trip. It is pretty spectacular. Looking forward to future reports.
Very interesting to follow along with you on your cruises! We know the challenges of trying to keep up with the blog while sightseeing and battling internet access.
I admire people who can stay atop their blog writing. It’s an art I’ve never mastered … and I doubt I’ll be doing so even with the simpler FindPenguins. Love Bergen. An 80-year-old fellow passenger on one of our early cruises told Mui that “the most beautiful girls live in Bergen.” Mui is still trying to prove that … both times we were there everyone was bundled up because it was cold and rainy and little of their faces were visible 😉
You’re doing well keeping up with the adventures. We don’t need daily posts, but it’s fun to cruise along with you in sort of real time! I used to blog more frequently but have settled down to once every couple weeks or so, plenty! I love your photos and the bits of information are just enough! Thanks for making the effort.
Uhhh, I think you’re pretty up-to-date! I’m just glad you’re blogging this (these) trips since I love reading a blog way more than Facebook. Sorry you missed that railway ride, but no one wants to sit next to you on the next railway adventure if you’re in dirty clothes 😀
I’m glad you and Steve did NOT mimic that statue!
Bergen is an adorable city. I love all the colorful buildings and beautiful roadways and walkways. Now ML can understand why John has given up on blogging about our adventures now that we aren’t full-time. He wrote almost every night for hours to keep up. The research always took so much time. We appreciate your effort. It is nice to have background on the areas you are visiting. Thanks for taking us along. Beautiful photos!!
So happy that we got to meet you both and spend some time together on the France River cruise. Thanks for the advice on the Viking Ocean cruises (we booked one for 2024 to Rome when we returned home!). I hope our paths cross again. If you ever return to Nashville please give us a call.
Hi Lou Ann, we are home now after 56 days traveling, whew! We are glad too to have met you.
Really like the house colors and quaintness they exude in the harbors. Now I need to find smoked trout.